LSU Basketball 82 vs Arkansas-Mont 66 - RECAP

In the Tigers first open exhibition game in five years, the new look Tigers were victorious 82-66. A ton of new faces were in the lineup including first-year LSU coach Johnny Jones that joined the team 7 months ago after former coach Trent Johnson took a job at TCU. The Tigers started the game out slow, but finished strong scoring 51 points on 65% shooting in the second half. The Tigers scored in bunches with their pressure defense and fast break scoring. They showed athleticism at all positions and they look to gel as a unit going forward.

The fans were not able to see the entire squad on the night with both Hammink and Hickey sitting out this game. The Tigers started:

1. Corban Collins
2. Andre Stringer
3. Charles Carmouche
4. Eddie Ludwig
5. Johnny O’Bryant

Player notes:

Corban Collins Looks like a legit backup point guard. The thing that stuck out the most was his strength. Multiple times he was able to get into the paint and finish baskets after being fouled. He had 11 points and 5 assists. He looked much better in the second half scoring almost all of his points after halftime. He was able to hit a three, pull up from 12ft, and get the hard to the rim And1’s to fall. The one negative I saw was his defense. He looked a step slow and let the Ark-M point guard drive right around him a couple times. Overall, I was impressed with his ability to run the offense with the absence of Anthony Hickey.

Andre Stringer did what Andre Stringer does; get streaky hot and hit threes. After hitting one early in the game, he was pretty nonexistent till the last 5 minutes of the game when he hit two threes in a matter of about 15 seconds, both in transition after LSU forced turnovers. It pretty much ended the game. Look for Stringer to see less playing time this season with the emergence of Malik Morgan.

Malik Morgan has looked good in practice, but he looked even more impressive in his first live PMAC experience. In only 19 minutes he was able to score 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting and 3 of 3 from behind the arc. He has a very quick stroke and showed some serious athleticism on multiple occasions going inside. He showed some great cuts inside and had good chemistry a couple times receiving passes from Johnny O’Bryant.

Charles Carmouche was able to out-athletic everyone in the building last night. He scored 19 points and had 5 assists. He looked quick and explosive. He had a monster dunk in transition that really got the team going. He didn’t out skill anyone, but he has the athleticism to hang with any guard. Very fun player to watch.

Eddie Ludwig started the game at the 4 and was pushed down to the 5 on a few occasions when Johnny O’Bryant picked up two early fouls in the first half. He scored 8 points and took a great charge during LSU’s big run in the second half. His scoring will not be anything consistently in double figures, but he shows a knack for being in the right place at the right time. He scored all 4 of his buckets in near the lane, normally after a great pass to him wide open.

Shavon Coleman played backup 4. He looked small, but comfortable posting up and guarding the post. In his goal from the post he used a quick move immediately after getting the ball that took the defender by surprise. Was able to get some rebounds and looked like a pretty good piece to the puzzle.

Johnny O’Bryant III had a double double. He scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds to go along with 4 assists and 4 steals. He also had a monster block when he rotated from the backside and blew up a driving point guards attempt at a layup. He showed great vision to pass out of the double team, which came everytime he touched the ball. My main concern is 3 of his baskets came on putbacks where he did what many basketball fans remember from last year; rather than going straight up after a rebound he tries to dribble it once then go up. It worked in this game, but in gmaes where we play more active guards they will have their hands on that ball if he doesn’t go straight back up.

Rotation

Unfortunately with Hickey and Hammink out we were not able to get a great feel for how Jones is going to use this lineup, but I can give you a few hints.

1. Jalen Courtney didn’t get his first minutes until 14:30 left in the second half. When he did get in he looked physically ready to play 5 adding some weight, but he didn’t really show anything skill wise.
2. Tuba didn’t play until the walk-ons came in. So even with the quotes from Jones saying he will have to play some minutes, I don’t see it happening unless we are in serious foul trouble.
3. Im interested to see what they do with Hammink because this game they rotated in Eddie, JOB and Coleman almost interchangeably. Two of those three were on the court almost the entire game. I think they add Hammink into the mix.

Team Mentality

The Tigers in the first half came out timid. They came in “feeling-out” Ark-Monticello. When they played their game in the second half, they scored 51 points and shot 65%. They did great on the boards and made the hustle plays. They looked well conditioned and ready to play the type of basketball Coach Jones is going to ask them to play.

It was fun to watch. When they were playing their good basketball in the second half, they were exciting and fast-paced. They hit 9 of 18 threes in the game but also went down low. Many threes came from a pass from inside back out. Overall it was a team effort with 3 of the 4 double figure scorers being new to the team.

Things that need to be fixed

Unfortunately there were 21 turnovers. At least 4 came in the final 2 minutes with the walk-ons and Courtney in the game, but there were still too many times where players didn’t know where each other were. Coach Jones said it will be getting worked on before their opener on Friday. I think missing starting point guard Anthony Hickey was a big reason for the turnovers. Collins did a good job most of the game but he certainly had his share of give-aways. Look for things to tighten up.

Unfortunately we have very little size. Obviously something that we cannot fix this year but I wanted to point out that next years squad will be MUCH taller and bigger. I think Courtney did a great job during the offseason of adding good weight and his frame looks great. It will be a help if he can “get-it” down low. Coleman looked small playing against some actually pretty big Arkansas Monticello players, but held his own. Getting 6’6”-6’7” Hammink back will be good for this team.

Projection on the season

I have been really looking into what this season can hold and I think last night gave me some incite as to what to expect. While we were missing 2 key parts to the puzzle, the new guys stepped up. A 16-13 regular season is not out of reach at all. I’ll continue to update my season prediction after every game but as of now, using chances of winning each game I have LSU winning 15.9 and losing 13.1 overall and 7.5 wins and 10.5 losses in SEC play.


LSU Sports game highlights

Box Score